21st century Christmas traditions and Christmas song # 13

The last time a volcano erupted in Iceland we were living in France. 'The Font' had popped up to London for two days. With all flights suddenly cancelled the journey back was a nightmare. A 3 hour wait in line to get a ticket on the Eurostar to Paris and literally the last Avis rental car at the Gare du Nord. Then an eight hour drive south in a lilac metallic Volkswagen Passat. Let's hope this eruption doesn't interrupt Christmas travel plans.

All of our delivery drivers are angels. Polite and cheerful. There is one exception . The man from the company owned by the French Post Office who drops off packages at random addresses on the main road. He refuses to come into the village and sends updates saying ' You were out when we called so we left your parcel with a neighbour'. A photo of a cardboard box and a pair of anonymous feet always accompany these messages. An hour is spent trying to track down the parcel containing  our mince pies from Bettys. It goes without saying that the delivery company has a phone line that is never answered and a website that is client repelling. Errant parcel tracking is a 21st century Christmas tradition.

A sign has appeared on the gates into the cathedral precinct. It informs us that the ruins have been inspected and the most dangerous threats 'stabilized'. More works are to be undertaken. This is a subtle way of saying they've spent this years budget.

Work has started on repairs to the pier. A yellow mechanical digger is parked on the quayside and three men in orange hard hats are looking at the hole caused by the recent storms. They seem engrossed in their task so we pass them by in silence.

The rowing club take their old boat out of the harbour, do two circuits of the bay and then return home. The lady in the steern waves cheerfully.

With Christmas falling on a Monday I'm betting the rest of this week will be super quiet.

Something formal and German. Christmas song #13 :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsrVH11A23Y

And here's a winter morning walk through Stockholm :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uMTQo6JFIo